Chapter: 34
It had already been six days since the knights of the Grand Duke’s estate began taking turns as Lisitea’s close protection detail.
This was due to his concern that Princess Florence might resort to force upon hearing the news of Diarmuid and Lisitea’s engagement. Even after doubling the security personnel at the Grand Duke’s residence, Diarmuid still seemed uneasy.
Lisitea, who had been quietly observing Wilhelmina and Ryan, who appeared particularly close, asked,
“Sir Ryan, you seem quite familiar with the Richter family. As far as I know, the Margrave Richter rarely ever comes to the capital.”
Unlike Lowen, which was responsible for the capital’s defense, Richter, guarding the northern border, did not participate in central politics. The Richter territory, bordering other nations, was granted independent military authority and autonomy. As such, it was an unwritten rule of the political world not to interfere in central affairs. For this reason, successive margraves seldom even set foot in the capital, and the current Margrave, Brynhild, was no different.
So, it was only natural for Lisitea to find it odd that Ryan, who was born and raised in the capital, spoke as if he knew the Margrave Richter well.
“Ah, I spent a couple of months in the Richter territory when I was young.”
“Is that so? How enviable.”
At Lisitea’s response, Wilhelmina, who was beside her, widened her eyes and leaned in.
“Are you curious about Richter? Why? There’s nothing much to see there.”
“……”
Lisitea’s eyes blinked rapidly, unsure how to respond.
Seeing this, Wilhelmina nodded as if she understood.
“Ah, is it because of His Grace the Grand Duke? You’re more romantic than you look.”
Diarmuid’s father, Waldemar, who had been the consort of Crown Princess Ruella, was originally from Richter. Waldemar was the younger half-brother of the current Margrave, Brynhild, the youngest son born to the previous Margrave, GĂŒnther Richter, and the man he remarried. However, not long after Waldemar’s birth, GĂŒnther was ousted by his eldest daughter, Brynhild, who seized his title.
This older half-sister, closer in age to his mother, sent Waldemar off to a boarding school. After graduation, he joined the Imperial Knights and eventually met and married the Crown Princess. Even after Waldemar’s marriage to the Crown Princess, the Richter family maintained a strict distance, seemingly conscious of public opinion that they might try to involve themselves in central politics.
Given these circumstances, Lisitea had vaguely assumed Diarmuid’s relationship with his paternal family might not be amicable. However, seeing the margrave’s youngest daughter residing in the Grand Duke’s household suggested their relationship wasn’t as bad as she thought.
“Well, feel free to visit anytime. I’m already indebted here, and it wouldn’t be polite to refuse the future Grand Duchess.”
“At least you’re aware you’re indebted.”
“You be quiet.”
The childish squabble between Wilhelmina and Ryan, now as familiar as the air they breathed, naturally ensued.
“Perhaps, if I get the chance,” Lisitea replied.
But even as she said it, with less than a year of her life remaining, the prospect of her going there seemed distant.
“By the way, Lady Wilhelmina, how did you come to be in the capital?” Maria asked in a fairly friendly tone, encouraged by Wilhelmina’s unpretentious demeanor.
“Ah, that? It’s because my flames are all show and no substance.”
Wilhelmina drew a dagger and ignited it with blue flames. Mages inheriting the Richter blood wielded different kinds of flames, and among them, Wilhelmina’s blue flame manifested through metal as a medium.
“My flame’s other name is the ‘Blue Flame That Burns Life and Never Dies.’ Isn’t the name itself just awesome?” Wilhelmina plucked a single flower from a vase and transferred the flame to it. “If I ignite a living thing like this, the fire won’t go out until its life is completely extinguished. Not even I can put it out. Such a magnificent flame. A true pride of Richter.”
As the flower burned to ash, Wilhelmina’s blue flame vanished as well.
“That sounds like an incredibly powerful magic, so why do you say it has no substance?” Maria asked.
“Because while I can ignite things at will, I can’t extinguish it at will. Imagine setting a magical beast on fire, and it runs around refusing to die? Then I’m the one who dies, when my mana runs out.”
Moreover, Wilhelmina had a problem with her Mana Heart, the organ that stores mana. Unable to store mana, she frequently fell into mana depletion if she conjured even a moderately large flame.
‘Ah, so that’s why Sir Ryan specifically finished off the Basilisk back then. To prevent Wilhelmina from using any more mana.’
Lisitea recalled the sight of Ryan dealing with the dying Basilisk.
“Wilhelmina, leave the rest to me.”
“Why make such a fuss over sticking a piece of metal into a half-dead creature?”
Their conversation was rough, but they seemed to be partners who got along quite well. Lisitea thought she understood why Scylla had been so exasperated. It was fortunate only the robe had caught fire; if even a bit of that flame had touched Scylla’s body, either Scylla or Wilhelmina would have been as good as dead.
‘Scylla, that was lucky. Always slipping through like that.’
Lisitea raised her teacup to hide her smile.
“So, when I was little, my parents barely let me use magic. They were worried I might die or something.”
“Ah, so that’s…” Maria trailed off sympathetically.
“Imagine being a Richter who shouldn’t create flames. It felt so unfair. When the blue flame first manifested, I thought I was the protagonist of this world, you know?”
“……”
“My other family members’ flames would burn for three days and nights without dying, but I could barely hold mine for five minutes. That’s when I realized: I’m not even a supporting character, let alone the main one.”
“That must have been so disheartening. Is that why you left Richter?”
Fully engrossed in the story, Maria made a sad face, and Wilhelmina winked one eye.
“In storybooks, kids like that always leave home. So when I said I was going to run away, my father cried. And then my mother got mad at him for making Father cry.”
“Oh no…”
“After I skipped two meals, Father convinced Mother I was going to die, and they decided to entrust me to Count Dilten. That’s also why Ryan spent a couple of months in Richter.”
“Ah, I see.”
“And you know what’s funny? Count Dilten arranged for Ryan to accompany me, thinking we were the same age and should get to know each other beforehand. But this guy here said he absolutely couldn’t bear to be separated from his childhood friend, so that friend got dragged along too.”
“Oh my, is that so?” Maria turned to look at Ryan, who, upon receiving the attention, turned red-faced and shouted.
“Hey! Don’t you ever get tired of this? Telling that story to everyone you meet!”
“Poor Hilda is the real victim. She got roped into being with this guy and even ended up engaged to him, all because of his childhood friend nonsense.”
“Excuse me, is the Hilda you’re referring to… Sir Hilda?” Maria asked, startled.
Even Lisitea, who had been listening with mild indifference, lifted her head at the unexpected name.
“That’s right. Hilda Maynard, the unprecedented genius who joined the Imperial Knights at the youngest age ever. This guy here is that Hilda Maynard’s fiancĂ©.”
“…Sir Ryan is far more impressive than I gave him credit for,” Maria said, her mouth falling open as she stared at Ryan after Wilhelmina’s explanation.
“Haha, our Hilda is indeed amazing.”
“Ugh, look at this lovesick fool. Honestly, making such a fuss.”
“So, have all three of you been close friends ever since then?”
“Well, we’ve unintentionally maintained a close friendship for about ten years now.”
“Unintentionally? You should be grateful someone tolerates a personality disaster like you.”
“Whatever. Anyway, Lady Aster, are you interested in Hilda Maynard? Hilda was quite interested in you.”
Casually dismissing Ryan’s interjection, Wilhelmina turned to Lisitea with curious eyes.
Lisitea closed the book she had been reading and tilted her head quizzically.
“Have I ever done anything to incur Sir Hilda’s enmity?”
Although Lisitea had made enemies whenever she entered society, she had no memory of ever clashing with Hilda Maynard. Of course, it was possible one of the people Lisitea had humiliated was a relative of Hilda’s.
“Enmity? What are you talking about? Hilda isn’t the kind of person to hate others without reason.”
Ryan waved his hands frantically, a look of urgency on his face. His anxiety was clearâhe was worried his lover might be misunderstood as a bad person.
Wilhelmina was just as surprised by Lisitea’s unexpected question.
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that you two were once talked about as rivals. Hilda was really looking forward to you receiving your knighthood. It was a time when she was feeling down because she had no peers her age who could match her…”
Wilhelmina had only mentioned ‘interest,’ so why did Lisitea jump to ‘enmity’? She occasionally noticed it, but Lisitea tended to assume others automatically disliked her. Not that Wilhelmina couldn’t understand why.
“Since you rarely participated in outside activities, there was a lot of talk among your peers about your actual skill.”
“……”
“Things like, ‘Isn’t her master’s love for his student clouding his judgment?'”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I did hear something from Sir Paul. He said he was going around hearing people say he’d lost his mind, taking on a student in his old age.”
That was what the knight who had taught Lisitea said, grabbing her pant leg and begging her to just attend one swordsmanship exchange meeting.
“But after seeing your skill slaughtering those magical beasts the other day, it’s clear it wasn’t just empty praise. You don’t have to feel pressured, but how about casually attending an exchange meeting sometime?”
At Wilhelmina’s suggestion, Ryan poked her side as if to tell her to stop.
“Why? You were impressed that day too.”
“Well, that’s… Satyrs have such tough skin, they’re not easy prey for a sword, but the cut surface was incredibly clean.”
Ryan’s face was bright with genuine admiration. It seemed Hilda Maynard would never have to worry about understanding her lover’s feelings.
“Well, I’m not sure. The sword is no longer my main interest.”
Lisitea ran her hand down the sword resting on the table. It was a useful talent, and she still found it handy from time to time, but the passion she once had was gone.
“What? What do you mean…”
“I let it all go when I gave up on being knighted. It wasn’t a situation where I could stubbornly continue anyway. In the last two years, I’ve barely held a sword more than a few times.”
“B-But, even so, you single-handedly killed dozens of those beasts that day…”
At Ryan’s muttering, Lisitea drew her sword from its scabbard.
With a sharp shing, the gleaming blade was revealed.
“I was just lucky. Would you like to test it?”
Light reflected off the blade, shimmering.
It was strange. The remnants of her past, when she had struggled desperately for recognition, still lingered among people, becoming a topic of conversation.
Ryan swallowed nervously, his face tense, then nodded. No swordsman would pass up a chance to cross blades with a skilled opponent, especially one shrouded in mystery, who had been called a prodigy.
